[Ppnews] Public Defender Seeks $2 Million Reimbursement For City in SF8 Case

[Political Prisoner News]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 7, 2009

CONTACT:
Tamara Barak Aparton
Communications and Policy Assistant
San Francisco Public Defender’s Office
415-575-4390 (office)
415-568-0551 (cell)


*** PRESS RELEASE ***

PUBLIC DEFENDER SEEKS $2 MILLION
REIMBURSEMENT FOR CITY IN ‘SF-8’ CASE


San Francisco, CA – As San Francisco grapples 
with a looming budget crisis, Public Defender 
Jeff Adachi is seeking $2 million in state 
reimbursement to the city for its defense of 
eight men charged in a 1971 homicide case involving a police officer.

On Tuesday, December 8, Supervisor Eric Mar and 
Supervisor David Campos will introduce a 
resolution at the San Francisco Board of 
Supervisors’ meeting, urging state officials to 
pursue reimbursement in the case, known as the “SF-8.”

Adachi has also asked State Senator Mark Leno to 
introduce special legislation asking for the 
state’s assistance in recouping the $2 million.

In 2007, the California Attorney General filed 
charges against eight former Black Liberation 
Army members --- Herman Bell, Ray Boudreaux, 
Henry Jones, Jalil Muntaquim (also known as 
Anthony Bottom), Richard O’Neal, Harold Taylor 
and Francisco Torres --- in connection with the 
officer’s killing. The charges had been 
previously dismissed against several of the men in 1975.

Earlier this year, two of the accused accepted 
plea bargains made by the Attorney General.  Both 
received probation. The charges against five 
others were dismissed. Only Torres’ case is still pending .

The city’s right to reimbursement is based on the 
fact that the California Attorney General took on 
the 36-year-old case after the San Francisco 
District Attorney’s office declined to prosecute. 
The extraordinarily complex case involved 100,000 
pages of documents and necessitated an extensive, multi-state investigation.

“This prosecution was initiated by the state. 
It’s only fair that the state bears the cost of the defense,” Adachi said.

Other counties have successfully recouped costs 
in expensive cases brought by the state. For 
example, Assembly Bill 139, passed in the 
2005-2006 session, reimbursed Stanislaus County 
for 100 percent of costs expended in the Scott Peterson trial.

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